Firefighters saw water freezing in their hoses as they fought a blaze south of Montreal Thursday night, and farmers in the upper Midwest are worried about the fate of their winter wheat crop.

The bone-chilling temperatures that settled over the central and eastern U.S. and much of Canada last week made it into 2018.

New Year's Eve saw record cold temperatures for much of the upper Midwest.

And on Thursday, President Trump kicked off a conversation that seems to happen every year around this time, with a tweet from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

"In the East, it could be the COLDEST New Year’s Eve on record. Perhaps we could use a little bit of that good old Global Warming that our Country, but not other countries, was going to pay TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS to protect against. Bundle up!" he wrote.

The tweet quickly drew reactions from exasperated lawmakers, climate scientists and meteorologists annoyed at the continued conflation of short-term weather conditions and longer-term climate trends.

Warmer weather is causing new problems in the US. Ice fell off tall buildings in Houston. Thawing pipes are leaking in Louisiana, leading to water conservation and boil advisories. Maine residents worry that frozen rivers may thaw and flood. (Jan. 19)
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North Carolina is dealing with up to 10 inches of snow and thousands of power outages after Wednesday's storm. Montgomery, Alabama firefighters contended with the frigid weather as they battled a fast food restaurant blaze early Wednesday. (Jan. 18)
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The South awoke on Wednesday to a two-part Arctic mess. First came a thin blanket of snow and ice, and then came the below-zero wind chills. Dangerous, icy roads are reported from Texas and Louisana east to Georgia and North Carolina. (Jan. 17)
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The National Weather Service says rivers dropped back below flood stage in northern New England, after heavy rain and ice jams covered large areas with ice over the weekend. The region could get seven inches of snow by Wednesday. (Jan. 16)
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Flooding is reported on several swollen Connecticut rivers, causing problems around the state. In Kent, ice jams on the Housatonic River prompted the private boarding school the Kent School to send more than 500 students home. (Jan. 15)
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The flight-tracking site FlightAware reports nearly 5,000 canceled flights across the U.S. due to the massive winter storm, disrupting travel nationwide. That includes over two-thirds of flights in and out of New York City and Boston airports. (Jan. 5)
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A massive winter storm roared up the East Coast on Thursday, threatening to dump as much as 18 inches of snow from the Carolinas to Maine, unleashing hurricane-force winds and damaging flooding. (Jan. 4)
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A massive winter storm roared into the East Coast on Thursday, dumping as much as 18 inches of snow from the Carolinas to Maine. In New York City, visitors and workers in Times Square were taking it all in stride. (Jan. 4)
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A winter storm smacked the coastal Southeast with rare snow and ice Wednesday. Savannah, Georgia had their heaviest snowfall in nearly three decades. Forecasters warned that the same system could soon strengthen as it rolls up the East Coast. (Jan. 3)
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The massive winter storm that's moved up the eastern seaboard is dropping snow in New York's Times Square on Thursday. The storm has canceled flights, shuttered schools and businesses and sparked fears of coastal flooding and power outages. (Jan. 4)
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A brutal winter storm is smacking Southern cities such as Savannah and Charleston with a rare blast of snow and sleet. Forecasters warn that the same system could soon strengthen into a "bomb cyclone" as it rolls up the East Coast. (Jan. 3)
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The winter storm moving up the east coast reached the Mid-Atlantic states, dropping snow in coastal areas of Maryland and Delaware. It made roads dangerous in North Carolina and could drop over 8 inches of snow on the Boston area on Thursday. (Jan. 4)
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Snow fell and piled up quickly before dawn in Long Branch on the New Jersey coastline on Thursday. A massive winter storm is moving up the U.S. Atlantic coast towards New York City and New England. It could drop 14 inches of snow on Boston.
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Meteorologists say a monster storm called a "snow hurricane" or "bomb cyclone" is expected to bring wintry weather to Florida and Georgia on Wednesday. Forecasters expect it to make the East Coast even colder and drop heavy snow on New England.
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A large swath of the U.S. is freezing under Alaska-like weather, but parts of the nation's northernmost state itself are basking in balmy conditions. Tuesday's official temperature tied a record 44 degrees in Anchorage. (Jan. 2)
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Bone-chilling cold gripped much of the U.S. as 2018 began, breaking century-old records and leading to several deaths that authorities attributed to exposure to the dangerously low temperatures. (Jan. 2)
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From north to south, cold weather is affecting much of the United States. Niagara Falls is covered in snow, parts of Texas near Houston battle dangerous icy roads, and Hollywood, Florida deals with strong winds and colder-than-usual temperatures. (Jan. 2)
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An annual Coney Island tradition, the Polar Bear Club plunge, took place as scheduled Monday, despite a forecast high of only 19 degrees. Hundreds start off the new year at the famed beach by jumping into the Atlantic Ocean. They've never canceled because of the cold. (Jan. 1)
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Ice can be seen forming on Lake Superior around Duluth Harbor in Minnesota. The wind chill was 36 below zero there on Monday. WDIO-TV reports that more ships than usual are in the harbor because the cold slows down some cargo loading equipment. (Jan. 2)
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Chunks of ice floated down the Mississippi River and fountains froze in Texarkana, Arkansas as wind chill advisories stretched South Texas to Canada and from Montana and Wyoming through New England. (Jan. 2)
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Throngs of revelers ushered in 2018 in New York's frigid Times Square as the glittering crystal ball dropped. The temperature was only 10 degrees in New York City at midnight. It was the second-coldest ball drop on record. Only 1917 was colder. (Jan. 1)
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BABY, IT'S COLD OUTSIDE
U.S. deep freeze expected to stretch into New Year | 1:07

Forecasters say the freezing temperatures in the northern U.S. could stretch into the new year. They are warning about hypothermia and frostbite. People who work outdoors in Burlington, Vermont have some ideas about dealing with the cold. (Dec. 28)
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The National Weather Service says International Falls, Minnesota, known as the "Nation's Icebox," set a record low temperature of 37 degrees below zero on Wednesday. Hibbing, Minnesota was 28 below. More ice formed along Lake Superior in Duluth. (Dec. 28)
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A region’s climate refers to the average weather conditions that prevail there, and can be studied by climatologists looking at long-term historical trends.

Weather varies day to day.

“Climate is what you expect,” says NBC Miami meteorologist John Morales, “and weather is what you get.”

As Morales pointed out in his TV broadcast Thursday, even though much of North America experienced below-average temperatures last week, most of the rest of the world is warmer than usual right now.

“It’s pretty mild to downright very warm as compared to normal, with the warmest readings in the poles, both North and South,” Morales told The World in an interview.

“Really the only pocket of very cold air, compared to averages, is across North America.”

President Trump used the phrase “global warming” in his Thursday tweet, a term that’s fallen out of style among scientists and environmentalists because it doesn’t reflect the many changes expected as carbon pollution alters the climate: more intense rainfall, increasing drought, rising sea levels, and other changes that vary from region to region.

The current cold snap is a result of a southward dip of the jet stream, bringing icy Arctic air into Canada and the U.S.

Some studies do suggest that climate change will shift the jet stream’s patterns and may bring these cold days to parts of the U.S. more frequently — but that point is still being studied and debated.

“That portion of climate science is not settled yet — many peer-reviewed papers indicate that might be happening in the future — there are other peer-reviewed papers that indicate those are cyclical changes in terms of the orientation of the jet stream,” Morales told The World.

This article was originally posted on PRI.org. Its content is created separately from USA TODAY.